Interim report on a project to itemise how much American hospitals charge, using bills submitted by Vox readers. Hospitals don’t publish price lists, so the information is hard to come by. Main finding so far: Costs vary even more than you might imagine. For identical applications of an antibiotic ointment, a Tennessee hospital charges $1 and a Seattle hospital charges $76. And beware, the bills start mounting the moment you walk in, even without treatment. A woman in New Jersey with a cut ear was billed $5,751 for sitting and waiting in ER; she was given an ice pack, which triggered a “facility charge”